US Jewish leader met Syria's Assad

American Jewish leader Malcolm Hoenlein visited Damascus for talks last month with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad about humanitarian issues, reports said Monday.Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations, told the news organization Politico that he went to Damascus on a humanitarian mission about 10 days ago."I am for four decades involved in humanitarian issues and concerns, and we held discussions about humanitarian issues," Hoenlein was quoted as saying.

Related

Damascus (AFP) - A UN envoy arrived in the Syrian capital Saturday for talks with the regime to try to finalise a deal to freeze fighting in the war-ravaged second city of Aleppo.Staffan de Mistura visited Damascus as the army and pro-regime fighters regained territory in southern Syria from forces opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.

Kerry says the future of Syria peace talks depends on outcome of chemical weapons deal GENEVA (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday that prospects for a resumption in the Syrian peace process are riding on the outcome of U.S.-Russian talks aimed at securing Syria's chemical weapons arsenal that lurched into a second day.

American conservatives and Jewish leaders are up in arms over former vice-president Al Gore’s sale of Current TV to Al-Jazeera, accusing the noted climate change activist of everything from hypocrisy to lining his pockets with cash from anti-Americans.
Right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh has been at the forefront of the attacks, pointing out that Gore sold his pet cable network to an Arab news giant owned by the royal family of oil-rich Qatar, an OPEC regime.

Istanbul (AFP) - US Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul in a bid to ease strains over the Syria crisis and persuade Turkey to step up its support for the coalition against Islamic State (IS) jihadists.

BEIRUT — Syria’s main Western-backed opposition group said Monday that Iran must commit publicly by 7 p.m. GMT to withdraw its “troops and militias” from Syria and abide by a 2012 transitional roadmap, or else the UN should withdraw its invitation for Tehran to take part in a peace conference.

BEIRUT — Syrian President Bashar Assad rejected allegations that his military had used barrel bombs or chlorine gas against opposition-held areas, calling the accusations “malicious propaganda.”
In an interview with CBS News, the Syrian leader also said that he would be “open to a dialogue with the United States, but that it must be ”based on mutual respect.“ CBS has published excerpts of the interview online.

Israeli jets have launched an attack inside Syria to prevent missiles being transferred to the Lebanese militant group Hizbollah, according to new reports Thursday.
An explosion at a missile base to the south of the regime-held port city of Latakia on Syria’s north-west coast was first reported by Syrian activist groups.